Instructions on how to make a film with Vegas Video by Sony

 

  1. Go to library front desk – ask for laptop.  They will check your identification against our roster.  They will ask for a drivers license or onecard.
  2. You may not take the laptop out of the library – instead, go to one of three audio-visual rooms at the left of the entrance along the wall.  Staff will boot anyone not engaged in A.V. work for you.
  3. Turn on lap top – plug in power cord at the back.  You may ask the staff for instruction on how to start up the machine, to use the touchpad, etc.
  4. Go to Internet Explorer.  Go to our class website at http://www.opensourcebuddhism.org/index.htm and right click on a videography. 
  5. Find your film.  Right click on the film with the touch pad and click on “save target as”.  A menu will come up.  Make sure that it is saved on the “Desktop” for ease of finding it later.
  6. Wait as film downloads – a few minutes only.  Go to Vegas 4 program on the Desktop.  Click on it.  A project will automatically open.  Click “new” project. 
  7. Go to “File” and then click “Import media”.  Go to “Desktop”.
  8. You will find your film’s file name listed.  Double click or click on “open”
  9. Your film will enter the program.  Drag your film up to near the top where you will see a large blank space.  Your file will appear with an audio track and a video track.  If you chose not to film yourself, you will see blackness where the video track is.  Right click on the black area, and click on “cut.”  Do not do this of course, if you see your film appear.
  10. Saving jpeg images.  Go back to internet Explorer.  Go to “google.com”.
  11. Type in the subject for which you seek a jpeg image.  Click tab that says “images”.  Search for an image you would like for your project.  Right click on image and then click “save picture as”.  Give it a name according to specifications.  For an example, you may right click an image at the top of our website home page.  For example,  “hume-marxist-org” as a name.  You must must must save the names of these images to give proper credit to the creator, just as you would an author.  Save this info!  It will go into your credits at the end of your videography.
  12. Save the image to the desktop as instructed above.  Go to the editing program, click “import media”.  Go to “desktop”.  Make sure that “all files” is displayed and not simply “media files”.  Sort through the options till you find the image as you named it.  Double click on it or click and click “open.”  Your image will appear in Vegas 4 on your program.
  13. Drag the image to the video track section of your project. 
  14. place cursor at the right or left edge of the image to drag it and expand it to the number of minutes you wish it to appear in your project.  You can overlap images for a “fade” effect.  Take a moment to hit “play” to see how it looks.
  15. Other effects:  you will find other tabs at the bottom-left corner to add special effects “Video FX” – just drag one of these to the jpeg you wish to make the effect for.  If you want an interesting transition, click “transitions” and drag the transition to one of the edges of an image.  Done. 
  16. Text:  You can add text to your project by going to “media generators” and click text, where you will find a number of options.  Set the position and font size or color as you wish.  It will appear over your film or image.
  17. Making the movie.  You are almost done once you have set your images in the project as per above.  Now, click “file” and click “render”.  A number of options will appear.  You want to save your movie as a Windows Media Video file – or “.wmv” and set the setting to “256 k”.  Save the movie to “Desktop”  For the movie name, please keep the same file name I already gave it:  for example, “matcphilosophy-group(your number)-(your philosopher’s name or subject name)-(your name)-film.  Now, click “OK” and the movie will start rendering.  Wait some minutes.
  18. When the movie is done, you are done.  The staff has assured me your project will remain on the computer until I can transfer it to the website my hard-drive or via the web.  Email me when you are done with it so that I can transfer it over.
  19. If you like, you may now double click your movie from the “Desktop” and see how it looks.
  20. Good luck!

 

James Powell